The dotCapeTown, dotDurban, and dotJoburg (ZA dotCities) domains entered General Availability from the 04th November 2014. This means anyone can now submit a domain name application through the Accredited Registrars to ZA Central Registry (the ZA dotCities registry operator). The ZA dotCities are a .ZA initiative, and funded from .ZA revenue. ZADNA is responsible for project and policy oversight, marketing & awareness, and stakeholder relations.

The ZA dotCities are positioned to complement .ZA and to serve as local alternatives to .ZA. ZA Central Registry (ZACR), an appointed to provide a centralized registry platform for several ZA Second Level Domains was appointed by ICANN to launch and operate the ZA dotCities domains. All the 3 domains launched their sunrise and land rush domain name application phases in July 2014, and entered the general availability (first-come, first-served) phase on 4 November 2014.

The ZA dotCities are a collaboration involving ZADNA, ZACR, the South African Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services (DTPS) and city municipalities of Cape Town, Durban and Joburg.

ZADNA's involvement in ZA dotCities

As the only statutory domain name authority in South Africa reporting to the South African government and advising the government on domain name and related policy issues, ZADNA played a key role in securing the support and endorsement of the ZA dotCities by the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services (DTPS) and the 3 city municipalities. It also played an active role in the ICANN application process, and the subsequent reserved name list process (that allowed the 3 municipalities to pre-register domains names of their choice) and in overseeing and supervising ZACR’s development of the ZA dotCities policies.

ZA dotCities Policies

ZACR has developed the following ZA dotCities published policies:

• DotCapetown Published Policies and Procedures
• DotDurban Published Policies and Procedures
• DotJoburg Published Policies and Procedures